2 comments:

An anonymous reader sent in this comment, which I somehow inadvertently deleted from the Comment queue:

"Being plagiarized?Well, you are NOT alone! You might have thought that this happened ONLY to you, because of the BIG silence about it.If this might be of any comfort for you - there are much worse cases than yours: people feel as being repeatedly robbed and brutally raped, while the perpetrators laugh at them. And the wounds never heal.After seeking justice for over 1 year now I have realized that there are powerful forces with a lot of resources, experience and procedures to keep it this way and to relentlessly cover up the perpetrators.The only solution I see is to SPEAK OUT!Then, one day may be the victims will unite to share experiences, understanding and support, which might help them to fight for justice in more organized way. Only then, eventually, the current wide-spread practice of silence and cover up might change."

Yes, I also thought that it was some kind of exception, happening to me only.

My work has been plagiarized by a team of three academics from three different universities in three different countries.

Here is in brief my experience with the US Uni. (it is indicative for the others, as I have faced very similar pattern of actions)

For a start – there is no entry point to make a complaint in all three universities, which is already a barrier.

Then, when I have sent emails to the persons I considered to be relevant, they played “the deaf monkey”, i.e. no reply at all – second barrier.

Then, I have made several phone calls asking for who the relevant person to address is.

At this point they realized that I’ll not just give up and I’m determined, so they played “the kind listener”, i.e. let’s see what s/he has.They say that they “take every complaint very seriously”.I did believe in it and I have sent them detailed evidence. However, soon I realized that this statement is in fact a deception and the only thing they are serious about is to quickly and quietly cover up the case.

After being mucked around for quite some time I have repeatedly asked to be informed about their procedures to handle complaints, but these were never revealed to me – third barrier.

Smelling a rat, I have expressed my concern about conducting “fair and impartial” investigation, since the investigator is closely related to perpetrators (was co-author with the perpetrators in numerous papers, which is in clear breach of the guidelines for appointing investigator). Furthermore, I found evidence for previous similar misconduct involving the investigator and the perpetrators. My concerns were dismissed at once - how dare I to question them?

Then, after few months and several enquiries about the progress (probably they thought that I’ll give up) I got a short answer that the investigation found no wrong doing (without any detailed explanation) and the matter is closed.

The pattern in brief is:

a) they do anything possible to prevent someone to make a complaint;

b) should a complaint is made, they insist everything to be secret, i.e. behind closed doors, so that they are in full control and nobody can monitor how they proceed;

c) they choose the rules to resolve it, which might never be revealed to the complainant, i.e. they do whatever they want and without any accountability;

d) no matter how strong and undisputable the evidence is, the outcome is always “there is no wrong doing”.

e) there is no possibility to question or to appeal their decision which is always “final” and “the matter is closed”.

To summarise, experienced and organized group will bash every complainant individually, in secret, on their territory and by their rules (i.e. as they wish). This way other victims (possibly of the same perpetrators) will never know anything about it and will end up being bashed the same way.

Even the Nazi SS and Joseph Stalin could envy the way they deal with complaints.

Welcome and a disclaimer

Welcome to my blog, "Healthcare, etc."! In this blog I take the perspective of a researcher/policy wonk rather than an individual healthcare practitioner. Therefore, all opinions that I express and generalizations that I make about any issues will in no way be construed as medical advice for individual visitors / readers. All views expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent opinions of any organizations with which I am affiliated. I welcome all comments, but reserve the right not to publish paranoid or abusive rants or overt marketing pitches.

About Me

I am an independent physician health services researcher with a specific interest in healthcare-associated complications and a broad interest in the state of our healthcare system. I am also a professor of Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
I am frequently invited to speak about evidence-based medicine, methods and healthcare-associated complications.
My posts have been syndicated on The Health Care Blog, KevinMD,The Healthcare Collective and other sites. They have also been cited in the New York Times. Occasionally you can also find me blogging on the British Medical Journal blog site http://www.doc2doc.bmj.com
If you would like to contact me about my research, blog posts or speaking, please e-mail me at Healthcareetcblog@gmail.com